Tupac Shakur: Going Above and Beyond "Thug Life"

"Here's a hidden fact: you want to be like Tupac. Not like Mike. Not like Shaq. Like Tupac." Freelance writer Vijay Sarma begins his essay, entitled "Tupacumentary: Living How You Want To Live" with this statement. With a title like that, this essay seems like it could be a self-help guide. For people familiar with Tupac Shakur's music and his legacy, it could be construed as such. However, Sarma takes an analytical approach to explaining Shakur's music and image and its affect on society. In the eyes of the general public, Sarma's approach with this essay would seem to be against the proverbial grain of societal norms. How could a professional writer actually see an individual as outlandish at Tupac Shakur is such a humane manner? Well, Tupac was not as outlandish and unacceptable as many people seem to believe.

"Tupac was extremely honest about his image minus spin-doctors," Sarma explains. The fact that most public figures are expected to live life on the so-called straight path makes it easy to forgive them for their various shortcomings and mistakes. Tupac did not have this luxury. As a young black male, (a particularly boisterous one, at that) Tupac was an easy target for the general public to give blame for society's own shortcomings. "Tupac when compared to any other �rock star' didn't do anything wrong, and in his own very unique way was everything any of us would want to be, we just don't understand it." It is important to remember, or simply know, that Tupac was not as easy of a target as his image would portray him to be. Sure, he was a young, up and coming cultural icon. But most people saw him as another thug with too many tattoos that overuses curse words and threatens police officers. Little did they know that this young man was a student at BaltimoreSchool of the Arts during his high school years. Little did they know that he had no semblance of a criminal record until he became famous (for a crime that was later disproved in court). This man, Tupac Shakur, was an articulate, intelligent individual. However, the strength of the media machine prevailed, at least for a while.